Selena Gomez and Company Anger Muslims Due to Disrespectful Poses in Abu Dhabi Mosque

Comments and critiques are considered part of a celebrity’s life, but if you’ve got a quite a community after you, like Selena Gomez and some of her friends after their picture taking stunt in a well-respected mosque, you could be in for some big trouble.

On Monday, Dec. 29, 2014, Gomez visited Abu Dhabi’s famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, along with a group of friends which reportedly included Cody Simpson, Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Shay Mitchell. And apparently during their visit, the celebrity group weren’t exactly getting into the cultural and religious spirit of the people around.

According to TMZ, two of the photos the group took during their trip and were later posted on Instagram earned countless complaints from the Muslim community on the "disrespectful" poses shown in the said photos.

One such photo involved Gomez doing a sexy pose with a good part of her leg exposed. While this may seem to be an everyday sexy pose for some people, the Muslim community thinks otherwise. In their culture, people, especially women, shouldn’t be flaunting their naked skin in public. This explains their conservative attire, especially so in their mosques. Even more so, they aren’t supposed to be doing suggestive gestures like sexy poses and the like.

The second photo was a group photo that showed a number of people, including Gomez, Hadid and Mitchell, were smiling and laughing while they’re in the mosque’s grounds. And according to TMZ, this move is another disrespectful thing to do.

Gomez and her friends are not the first celebrities who got into the Muslim community’s skin after doing photos in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Back in 2013, singer Rihanna, regardless of her donning conservative attire, was kicked off the mosque’s grounds for doing a sexy pose while taking pictures there.

“In the event of behavior that violates the moral codes of access to the mosque, or other visit regulations – such as taking inappropriate pictures, posing in ways that are improper in the context of sacred place, talking loudly, or eating – the violators are directed in a polite manner that reflects the civilisational and tolerant attributes of Islam,” said the mosque in a statement.

Do you think Selena Gomez and her friends should have been more considerate of the cultural and religious norms followed by the Muslim community during their Abu Dhabi visit? Post your comments below.